Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 288. A Maze Is a Maze (4)

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard this year. Shall we all shout together?”

“Everyone! It’s going to be great! Wow~”

With the greetings of the cast, the grand fireworks prepared by QBS burst, and the music festival finally came to an end.

However, for the seven of us, that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Wow, that’s too bad. It really felt like we were at a karaoke.”

“Isn’t it a bit too big for a karaoke?”

“A super-sized karaoke.”

“Wow, but I’ve never been to one. I really want to go.”

“Hey, should we really go to a jjimjilbang* later tonight? Seriously? They have saunas and even a karaoke room there. What do you think, hyung?”

(*Translator’s Note: *Jjimjilbang* refers to a Korean bathhouse/spa.)

“Honestly, I think getting burned by Taehyun’s glare would be quicker than lying on the hot floor of a jjimjilbang….”

“If you know that, how about you all quiet down…. There are too many ears listening here, guys….”

“Taehyun hyung, are you embarrassed by us?”

“Sometimes…?”

Like me, who sang enthusiastically in high spirits, the other members were also quite elated by the success of our performance.

As I lifted the mood, the other members joined me one by one, singing nostalgic songs together. Thanks to that, we reached a level of high tension that no one could stop.

Jung Siwoo and Dan Haru, whose vocal cords had warmed up from belting out high notes earlier, even sang the high-pitched chorus in full chest voice with me.

“Everyone, watch your step and be careful not to get pushed.”

Knowing that accidents are more likely to happen when you’re excited, I kept an eye on the members as I laughed and joked with Lee Yugeon, making sure no one got hurt.

Again, to avoid getting pushed or falling among the crowd, we waited until most of the other singers had left the stage before we slowly made our exit as the last ones.

“Who was holding our microphone? The sound director wants us to return it.”

“Oh, that was me. I’ve got it.”

At the request to return the microphone, I headed towards the sound director who was standing in the hallway with the fake microphone still in my hand.

“Hello, director. I’m returning the microphone.”

“Oh, yes, yes. Thank you!”

The director seemed like a rookie who hadn’t been working for long, as he took the microphone with both hands, looking quite tense. I quickly supported my hand underneath to help, then turned to head back to the waiting room. Just then, another hand holding a microphone suddenly appeared next to me.

“I’m returning mine too.”

“…? Why are you holding one?”

“…? You gave it to me.”

The owner of the mysterious hand was Joo Eunchan.

Usually, a team only gets one microphone, and our team was even given a fake microphone, so why were there two?

As both the sound director and I instinctively felt something was off, our gazes turned towards Joo Eunchan, who blinked innocently as if he had no idea.

“When I lost track of my hyungs and was about to go up on stage, some director gave it to me, so I just held onto it.”

“And you just took it when they gave it to you?”

“How could I refuse when they handed it to me?”

“So you were holding that microphone the whole time?”

“Yeah. But isn’t it just a fake one anyway?”

“Uh…?”

As Joo Eunchan spoke, I nodded, thinking, ‘Well, that’s true,’ when suddenly, the sound director, who had been eavesdropping on our conversation while checking the microphone’s number, made a noise that sounded a bit ominous.

An “uh…” with what seemed like two ellipses attached to it usually meant something foreboding.

“Director…?”

“…Yes?”

“Is there a problem with our microphones?”

The sound director quickly shook his head in denial, looking like someone who knew they messed up.

“No, no. Thank you for your hard work….”

Even though his nervous fidgeting as he hastily reassembled and then re-disassembled the microphone he had already taken apart made me uneasy, it seemed like we weren’t the ones at fault.

‘Looks like another poor rookie is going to get chewed out today.’

Expressing my condolences in my mind, I draped my arm over Joo Eunchan’s shoulder and headed back to our waiting room. Joo Eunchan, who had been wearing a slightly uneasy expression, soon shrugged it off and turned to walk with me.

“Oh, hyung. I got permission from my brother.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“For our trip. He said we could use his villa. He’s already arranged the food and everything we might need, so we can just go and enjoy ourselves.”

“Ah, I see.”

As we walked slowly through the crowded and chaotic hallway, Joo Eunchan suddenly brought up the topic.

He was talking about the New Year’s trip we planned to take after our year-end performance. We couldn’t just visit Dan Haru’s grandmother right away, so we had vaguely decided to travel nearby and were looking for a place to stay. As it happened, Joo Eunseok owned a second house in that area, so Joo Eunchan had agreed to ask him for a favor.

‘That hyung has double the offices and double the houses…. Is this what the daily life of a wealthy heir looks like?’

Well, in those rich-family dramas, the husbands often had double the wives and double the illegitimate children too….

I found myself thinking about Joo Eunseok, whose name I hadn’t heard in a while.

From what I saw through Joo Eunchan’s past timeline, Joo Eunseok was a devoted older brother who even got divorced to take care of Joo Eunchan when he had holed up at home due to various issues.

Curious about what kind of life the Joo brothers had lived, I casually asked a question.

“Hey, your hyung really takes care of you. Is it because of the age gap?”

“Hyung’s been like that since I was young. There’s a big age difference, and when I was little, our dad barely paid attention to me.”

“Why?”

“He was busy getting remarried to my stepmother.”

“…….”

Oh, so your mother was the double?

Stunned by this unexpected bit of family history, I bit my lip, struggling to find the right words. Seeing my reaction, Joo Eunchan asked, his face full of confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“As the leader of a group and a hyung, I’m trying to figure out the most appropriate reaction when I hear about a member’s hidden family background….”

“…? It’s not really a hidden fact. There was even an article when they got remarried.”

“The fact that your family history gets publicized in the news… It’s not something they taught us in school on how to react as a hyung… This is a serious issue….”

“Oh, stop joking around. I’m not falling for it anymore.”

“Tsk, too bad.”

“Ah, seriously.”

Seeing that Joo Eunchan didn’t seem too serious, I decided to joke around, which made him roll his eyes in annoyance and lightly punch my side. Or at least, he tried to.

‘But I was prepared for that.’

I easily dodged the huge but playful punch, and as I did, Joo Eunchan’s eyes sparkled like a cat playing whack-a-mole as he clenched his fist again.

Thinking that his fierce competitiveness would one day lead him to pummel his hyungs, I quickly grabbed his wrist and changed the subject.

“Anyway, what about your real mother? Did they get divorced?”

“No. She passed away shortly after I was born. I don’t remember much. I heard it was a high-risk pregnancy since she was older when she had me. …But I’m still grateful that she decided to give birth to me.”

Just like the time he revealed that he was a rich kid, Joo Eunchan talked about his mother more calmly and objectively than I had expected.

Of course, his story didn’t tell me everything about his life, but at least I could vaguely understand why Joo Eunchan’s father was so indifferent towards him, and why Joo Eunseok took on the role of his guardian instead of their parents, shielding him from the world.

‘A pathetic father who resents the child born in place of his wife….’

In most romantic fantasy novels, such fathers are usually the root of all misfortune.

As countless deadbeat dads I had read about flashed before my eyes, Joo Eunchan shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“Anyway, I’m always grateful to my hyung. Thanks to him, I grew up without lacking anything. When I dreamed of becoming an idol, I was able to start because of him too.”

“Yeah, it does seem like your hyung really cherishes you.”

“People say that both my hyung and I resemble our mother more than our father. Maybe that’s why….”

Joo Eunchan seemed lost in thought for a moment before he added, almost unconsciously.

“But still, getting a divorce just to take care of me… That’s really foolish. My sister-in-law is a really good person…. Of course, I’m glad my hyung is in my life, but sometimes it feels like he bulldozes the hills I need to climb on my own.”

“Well, I haven’t met him often, but he definitely seems like the type who would build an artificial surf

park if you said you wanted to learn how to surf….”

But wait, what did you just say?

“…Hey, what did you just say?”

“Huh?”

“Did you say your hyung got divorced?”

“…Huh? What kind of curse is that, hyung? They’re newlyweds.”

“No, you just said it. That getting divorced to take care of you was foolish.”

“Did I?”

Joo Eunseok had indeed gone through a divorce to protect Joo Eunchan.

But that happened in a timeline that no longer existed.

There was no way Joo Eunchan could have known about something that happened in a timeline that had already disappeared.

Yet, Joo Eunchan just scratched his chin with a puzzled look on his face, as if he couldn’t understand why he had said that.

“Uh…. Why did I say that?”

“Was it just a random comment?”

“I’m not sure. Why did I think something like that happened…?”

Joo Eunchan furrowed his brows and tilted his head. Then, as if realizing something, he looked up at me with a small exclamation.

“Maybe it was from a dream? I’ve been having weird dreams lately. In the dreams, we never debut, and I just cry in my room. Stuff like that.”

“…Tell me more.”

“That’s it. But the dream felt so real, maybe I got it mixed up with my memories.”

“And all you do in the dream is cry? Nothing else?”

“A dream’s just a dream, you know. I forget most of it when I wake up. Anyway, it’s not important. My hyung and sister-in-law are doing just fine.”

Whether your brother and sister-in-law are happily living as newlyweds isn’t the point here.

My smile froze as I mulled over the troubling clue, but reacting too seriously now would only make Joo Eunchan suspicious. I forced a neutral expression and called upon the system in my mind.

[System check in progress….]

[Usage may be limited until the check is complete.]

‘This useless time management system…!’

Why is it that it’s always missing when I need it the most, even though it usually throws penalties and unnecessary comments at me?

But then again, even if the system was active, the current AI was unlikely to provide me with any useful information.

‘I should’ve gotten Thirteen sooner….’

As soon as we get back to the dorms, I’ll summon that bastard from HQ and grab him by the collar.

With that thought in mind, I entered the waiting room with Joo Eunchan.

And what greeted me was….

“Kang Hajin, you…! You, come here―!!”

“Aah, Director! We’re still at the broadcasting station!?”

It was an absolutely furious Ji Suho…?

“Why, what did I do? What did I do wrong! What do you want from me!? Why!?”

Instinctively raising my guard, I nervously looked around the room to assess the situation. On one side, Seo Taehyun was rubbing his forehead while Jung Siwoo was laughing as if he found the whole thing amusing.

The fact that those two were reacting like that usually meant something serious was going on….

Sure enough, Ji Suho, who had shaken off Kwon Wook’s hand that was trying to hold him back, pointed his finger at me and shouted in exasperation.

“I told you! I told you to lip-sync! I told you to stop messing around!”

“How could the director tell a singer to lip-sync? That’s insulting….”

“Your microphones were all on, so your goofing around during the ending song was the loudest thing heard―!!! What are you going to do about your image, you idiot!?”

“…What? You heard what?”

“Your singing, you idiot!”

“……Holy shit.”

…So that “uh…” from earlier really was a bad omen, damn it!